Humans

The last of 2014 – Dec 31st

It was a bit of a rush taking yesterdays photos but I wanted to get something out to mark the end of the year. Almost too hung over to do a post today, but how could I not put out an image of the last sunset of 2014, or for that matter, half naked action men in what looks suspiciously like fetish-wear (only in Brighton) and by contrast, chairs dressed in party frocks for their big night out? Plus of course (and after several impassioned pleas following their absence in yesterdays St Ives special) the last stone of the day for the year that’s now gone.

So, 2014 is done. File away the bad bits like old bills and tax returns. Treasure the best and be sure you make room for more of the good stuff in 2015. Happy new year!

Flock – Weds 10th Dec

When I was a student I had a summer job at the Butlins holiday camp in Minehead. I hasten to add I was not a redcoat. Redcoats were not popular with other members of the workforce. While maintaining a superior air to everyone else, nevertheless they had to smile all the time at the campers. This seemed to the rest of us to be too high a price for the privilege of wearing a polyester blazer. I sold ice creams.

Shortly after I started the job an army of decorators arrived at the camp, along with several men carrying a piece of optical equipment on a tripod. The men would set up the tripod in a particular place, look through the optical device, then confer with the works foreman who would, in turn, go and talk to the decorators. After a few days I began to see they weren’t redecorating everything, just the parts that were visible from these standpoints. I was told this was because they were preparing for the company who were going to take the photographs for the new brochure.

On the big day when the company arrived, there was a buzz in the air. Certain parts of the centre of the camp were roped off: the pool, the funfair, the monorail… I stationed myself as near to the pool area as I could get. Inside the enclosure, lots of important looking people milled around. Make up artists attended one of the most beautiful and yet normal families I have ever seen, while technicians adjusted huge lighting arrays and positioned reflectors. There were also two redcoats I didn’t recognise wearing suits that could have been fresh from the box and fitted perfectly. The rest of the world stood outside the perimeter. Crowds of campers looked on with excitement while various officials kept them from pressing forward into shot. Several redcoats (our redcoats) tried to engage the production team in conversation, but they too remained outside the barrier. As the lights were switched on it was as if the sun had come out. Then, after only a few minutes, the dismantling process began and our normal day resumed.

Wotton Under Edge special – November 2014

In a slight departure from the usual format, here’s a contact sheet of images of things you can do in Wotton Under Edge (where I have been for the weekend). They include (left to right, top to bottom):

  • Marvel at the ever-changing diorama in one of the windows on the way into town. The building is now well under construction, but previous displays have focused on campaigns to stop the development, complete with protesters
  • Go and see the cave spiders in Eric’s shed
  • Climb Nibley Monument and feel a bit funny when you get to the top
  • Re-create a number of Caspar David Friedrich’s wonderful high-romantic paintings, but with real mud
  • Watch airliners flying south for the winter
  • Compare fairy loaves (Rob and Judy have got one too)
  • Climb very tall trees and collect mistletoe
  • Re-enact Blair Witch Project
  • Play on the smell-o-rama bouncy castle

And then on the way home:

  • Watch a perfect string of lozenge-shaped will o the wisps keeping up with the train
  • Work out how high the viaduct is at Haywards Heath by making a mathematical calculation involving time of day, time of year, and length of the viaduct’s shadow

More from Brighton tomorrow…

Knockers – Fri 31st Oct

So I’m walking down the road having just photographed this particularly scuzzy building and i hear a voice in a doorway calling out “You looking for the knocking shop mate?” so i look into the doorway and there’s this big bloke walking out on to the street and he continues “cos it’s just down there just past the bins, ere, you going to take pictures of the clients as they come out? Could be a nice little earner” so I tell him I might just go home and pick up a fishing stool so i can be a bit more comfy while I wait and he says “Yeah my mate lives just across the road from them on the top floor and he says you wouldn’t believe what goes on in there, the Police know and everything and they’ve got a proper website. What’s it called?” he says to the other guy now coming out into the sunshine but the other guy can’t remember and i suggest knocking on the door and asking them if they need publicity shots and so it goes on. I had to take their picture didn’t I?

Another day like the South of France. Halloween too. Hottest since records began apparently.

Stones of the day include a wounded heart and a hamburger. Ah the poetry…

Fifi – Sun 26th Oct

The clocks have gone back and winter time is here. Even the sun seems to have vanished, but there’s plenty still happening. Spiders spinning HUGE webs in search of Christmas dinner. Leaves everywhere and the guy who’s just swept his back yard free of them is in for a surprise because he’s only swept them into next door’s driveway, up-wind…

How can anyone do that to a dog? Or a frog?